Ian McKellen to Play Goldfinger! (On the Radio!)

I know, I know. Our James Bond is the man of slick suits and shaken martinis, who scores voluptuous and scantily clad women, and leaves large explosions and visual intrigue in his wake. But sometimes there's magic in making the visuals up for yourself -- especially when the names involved could pull off their own 007. Express.co.uk reports that Radio 4 in the UK will air a radio version of Ian Fleming's Goldfinger on April 3. Toby Stephens will voice Bond, Rosamund Pike will be Pussy Galore, and Ian McKellen will play Goldfinger. Their sources say that this version will be more faithful to Fleming's original 1959 vision than the 1964 film.

All due respect to Stevens, who I'm sure will do a killer job, but since this is radio, part of me wishes they grabbed Sean Connery back, since a voice doesn't betray advancing years like a face does. I mean, can you imagine hearing Connery and McKellen's voices battling back and forth? Pure heaven. Nevertheless, this trio sounds awesome and I hope somewhere, somehow, this gets available to the rest of the world at large pronto.

Better yet -- could more be on the way? There are public readings in places like New York all the time, and podcasts/downloadable media have become quite popular, so why not get these stars reading? They could be marketing pushes connected to movies (watch the cinematic version, listen to the book version), or wholly separate radio identities like this. It seems like the perfect time for an old-school radio revival.